Aircraft maker considers DeLand for new home
BY CLAYTON PARK, BUSINESS WRITER
An aircraft manufacturing startup with aspirations of becoming the “Apple of airplanes” has included DeLand on its short list of sites in five states under consideration for its new home.

Kirk Hawkins, founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based ICON Aircraft, said he hopes to make his decision on where to relocate his company’s headquarters and manufacturing operations within the next six months.

If the company moves to DeLand, it would initially bring and/or create 100 jobs with the goal of growing its work force to 600 employees within five years of arriving, Hawkins said Tuesday. He said his company would like to be in its new headquarters/manufacturing plant by the end of 2013.

The plant will produce a lightweight two-seat single-propeller plane called the ICON A5. Designed to take off from both land and water, the A5 has wings that fold so it can be stored in a car garage and towed on roads via a trailer. Its price tag is about $139,000.